Honey
by desolate butterfly
Summary: [ItaNaru oneshot] Naruto goes to find Itachi to learn some things about Sasuke. He finds out more than he ever wanted to know.


Title: Honey  
Author: desolate butterfly  
Genre: Angst  
Pairings: ItaNaru, NaruSasu, ItaSasu  
Rating: PG -13  
Summary: Naruto wants to know what's so important about Itachi that Sasuke would betray everything for him. He finds out more than he should.

--

Although Sasuke is the one searching for Itachi, Naruto gets there first.

Naruto gets there first, because he's extracted information from the broken and bleeding lips of other Akatsuki members. Because he's stolen documents from the ANBU records. Because he's disobeyed Tsunade's order to stay within Konoha _yet again_ and this time Kakashi isn't coming to stop him.

Kakashi isn't coming because Sasuke has broken his spine in three places and Sakura and Shizune tell him it will take at least a month before they are able to heal it so that Kakashi-sensei no longer has to piss in a pan and drink from a straw.

Kakashi isn't coming because of Sasuke. And Sasuke isn't coming home because of Itachi; and so Naruto's going to ask—going to _make_ Itachi tell him why, going to find out what makes the older Uchiha so important.

Because it's become quite clear now that Itachi _is_ important: more important to Sasuke than Kakashi-sensei, and Sakura-chan, and Naruto. More important than Konoha. Even more important than Sasuke's own life, which Naruto doesn't really understand.

He could give his life for Sasuke in a heartbeat, but Sasuke's not a murderer and Sasuke didn't kill his entire family so why, _why_ would Sasuke give his life for Itachi?

The moonlight filtering into the leaves brushes across Naruto's borrowed skin—Sasuke's skin—and the paleness of it seems odd. The last time Naruto had disguised himself in Sasuke's form, he'd been twelve and trying to get Sakura-chan's attention. He's changed a lot since then. Sasuke has too. The body Naruto has transformed in Sasuke's likeness moves with effortless grace and deadly intent. He thinks about Orochimaru in this body and shivers with disgust.

It's not going to happen. Naruto will make sure of that. Tonight is just another step…

Through the branches up ahead, Naruto can see the small encampment and he smiles to himself. The ANBU files were correct in their information. Some of the Akatsuki are settled here, though he's not close enough yet to tell which ones.

Silently, Naruto swings up into the branches, molding himself to the shadows created by the moonlight. A sleeve slips uncomfortably low on his shoulder and Naruto curses Sasuke's new penchant for loose clothing. He blames Orochimaru for the ornate ridiculousness of the Sound uniform.

Below him, in the encampment, a black-cloaked figure parts the curtain of the tent and steps outside. Naruto smiles triumphantly. The Akatsuki members he shattered into dust hadn't lied either. Uchiha Itachi pokes at the coals in the fire pit with a stick, stirring them into a warm glow. He brings a kettle out from his side and places in on the fire and Naruto is somewhat taken aback at the normality of the action.

There are a lot of things Uchiha Itachi could be doing in these woods. Making tea, is not one of the things Naruto would have guessed.

Tilting his—_Sasuke's_—head back, he scents the air carefully. Itachi appears to be alone, but the Akatsuki travel in pairs and that slight, fishy-scent of the Mist ninja lingers around the encampment.

_'It's now or never,'_ Naruto thinks, and makes a decision.

He drops from the tree into the clearing, not bothering to mask the slight thud of his feet on the ground. Itachi turns to face him, unruffled by the sudden entrance. Naruto notices that his enemy's eyes are red already with the sharingan. He wonders if his henge'd form of Sasuke is also flashing a pair of blood filled eyes.

"_Itachi_," he hisses, in the same way Sasuke did so many years before, chest heaving with fury and passion.

The older man gives a mocking smile. "Foolish little bro—"

But Naruto isn't Sasuke, so he doesn't wait for Itachi to finish the insult before his fist is in Itachi's stomach, doesn't hang on every word from Itachi's lips like it's a prophecy or proverb to be learnt by rote. Naruto's fingers don't tremble with pent up rage and sickness, they just twist into Itachi's arms, tearing at the cloak, at mesh and skin so pale—pale like Sasuke. Naruto's ears don't echo with any screaming except his own furious cry, and the sound of flesh hitting against flesh.

"What is it about you?" Naruto mumbles, eyes fixed firmly on the thin line of Itachi's lips, the hollow of his throat. "What _is_ it about you? What makes _you_ so special?"

He pins Itachi to the ground by the shoulders with Sasuke's arms, the kyuubi's chakra rolling off him like a wave. Itachi's hands come up to grasp his chin, try to force his head up to meet Itachi's eyes but Naruto resists.

"You aren't Sasuke," Itachi says, voice flat.

"What was your first clue, genius?" Naruto snaps in response, twisting his neck back and out of range, legs tangling with Itachi's in an awkward position.

"But this illusion is quite good," the Uchiha continues, as if Naruto hasn't spoken. Naruto's eyes widen as Itachi abandons his attempts to grab his face and chooses, instead, to run his hands up Naruto's sides, slipping into his tunic. Black-polished nails stroke knowingly against his—_Sasuke's_—skin and he shudders. "Feels the same," Itachi murmurs quietly, drawing circles down Naruto's chest, and Naruto jerks back, panting.

"You…you _sick pervert_," he stammers, hands curling into fists.

Itachi laughs briefly and sits up, wiping the dirt from his cloak. "Definitely not Sasuke," he taunts. "He would have leaned into that touch."

"You fucking liar!"

"It's not a lie." Itachi stands gracefully, pushing back a few strands of hair that had fallen loose around his ears when they struggled. Then he peers at Naruto for a few seconds and the moonlight seems to dim.

Naruto tenses before the movement begins, but it's still difficult to track Itachi's sudden appearance behind him. He's way too fast. Before he's turned even half-way around, Itachi's hands are around him, catching him around the waist, around the arm.

"It's not a lie," Itachi repeats, and then carefully dislocates Naruto's shoulder. Naruto screams and fights the nausea that the searing pain brings, and the itch and burn of bone rubbing against flesh as the kyuubi heals him.

"Didn't you want to know," Itachi is whispering in Naruto's ear, as he pitches forward unsteadily, "what Sasuke wants from me? What he always wanted? Maybe it was this…" A hand slides up Naruto's thigh and he groans, trying to sort through the fog in his head enough to break away. "…Or this?" Teeth graze the back of his neck.

"_Bastard._"

"Or this, perhaps?" Warm fingers cup Naruto's groin and it's enough to give him a shot of panic, enough to clear his thoughts and _move_.

Naruto slams an elbow into Itachi's ribs hard enough to send him stumbling a few feet back. The henge is broken, and he stands there in his own form, gasping for breath, fingers curled into claws. His jaw aches and he wonders if it's because of the kyuubi's fangs coming through, or because he's been furiously grinding his teeth ever since Itachi opened his mouth.

"You fucking bastard," he growls, "You _never_ touched Sasuke."

Itachi stares back at him, face a perfect blank.

"No," he says, "I didn't." _But he wishes I did._ The unsaid statement lies in the air between them and Naruto gives an inarticulate howl of pain as he throws himself at Itachi, fist catching him right on the cheek, pushing his head to the side.

Itachi bears this calmly, not even bothering to wipe the blood from his mouth.

Naruto glares at him, chest heaving. "I could kill you right now," he says,

"You might be able to," Itachi admits, that mocking little smile back on his lips, blood dripping down his chin so that he looks almost like a vampire freshly fed. "But you won't."

And Naruto grits his teeth in frustration, because he knows the man is right. If he were to kill Itachi, Sasuke would never forgive him. And yet…

"When Sasuke takes you down I'm going to be there," he swears. "I'm going to be there and it's going to be over, understand? _Over._"

Itachi doesn't say anything to this declaration.

They both know it's not true.

--

fin.

--


End file.
